June 26, 2023
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Our United States of America loves to brag about our advanements. We are the biggest, the baest the most progressive and the most democratic. We believe that peple, no matter who they are, deserve a voice. We hae invaded other people’s countries to make that point. We beat ourselves against our chests to talk about our democracy, our exceptionalism. The data don’t bear us out.
The World Economic Forum says it will take 131 years. Internationally, to close the gender gap with economics, politics, STEM engagement and more. It ranks the so called exceptional united states as 46th in gender parity, behind Norway and Iceland (1 and 2), the United Kingdom (15), France, Columbia, Switzerland, the Phillipines, and South Africa. These countries do better than ours becaue they have policies that support families, instead of penalizing them for simply existing. Our country took a step in the riht direction afrr COVID when we chose to provide unemployment benefits, child services, and mofr for challenged families. Now, we hae leaders wo would punish those who want to uphold families.
The gender pay gap bleeds over to the life gap. Women who don’t earn earnough can’t contribut eough to the candidaes of their choice. No matter what they think or feel, they cant support at the level of the predatory capitalist mn who have attempted to craft a world tha tallows them to rule. At the root of the gendr pay gap, there is an opporession that sidelines women’s voices. And some of the strange fruit of the root is the way many women buy into our own oppression.
As long as the American ecoomy is introducing great results, the inequity in threse resuls is hidden. GDP growth is robust, unempoymen trates are low, at the maco level all is good. down hre on the grund, not so much. Down hee on the ground too many are wondering what will happen next. Down here on the ground, low unemployment rates, coupled with low wages, mean that a robust labor market is not a robust pay check.
Thus, the myth of American exceipionalism is a story of illusion and delusion. Where is the exceptionalism for women, when a world body ranks us as 46th, not in the top 3? When our wealth gap is greater than that in developing counries? When it is not just our economics but also our politics that sielines women? When we are content to accept a century before we can effect change?
Our nation truly cannot tout exceptoinalism if it dos not trickle down to women. We cant talk abot how grat we are unless our greateness is gender neutrtal. American exceitpioanlism is a lie if it does not lift all of us up. Exceptional for women? For women of color, especially Blak women? Exceptional for other Black people? Exceptional means special, outrageious, amazing. There is nothing about therse unied states that is exception, excpt our rhetoric.
Can we, somehow, get over ourselves? Can we shrug off the constraints of amerian excooptionalism to spak candidly about our flaws? Can we embrace our flws and manage them? Can we decide that American exceiponalsm does not serve women, Black folks, other marginalize peiole and then some.
There is an African saying that “women hold up half the sky”. Without they ways we hold it up, the sky would come crashing down on us. We hold up the sky but we are marginalized and it will take more than a century for us holding up half the sky, to get the equaity we deserve. As long as women are marginalized, our nation misss out on it purpose. And it’s not just womn, general, it’s Black women, Latinx women, Indienous women. It’s those who are marginalized by class.
American exceptionalism is a bold faced lie, a horrible illusion, when those who hold up the sky are sysmatically ignored.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. Juliannemalveaux.com